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Excel - Keep Your Students Focused: Limiting Access in Microsoft Excel Tutorial - Episode 509

205 views · Published 9 September 2009 · 3:34 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast where we discuss all things Excel. I'm Bill Jelen and today we have a question from Christina who works in a classroom and wants to keep her students confined to a certain section of the spreadsheet. In this episode, we will explore two methods to solve this problem and ensure that the students stay within the designated area.

The first method involves hiding everything outside of the desired range, which is A1 through E10 in this case. This is a simple solution that will work for younger students who may not be familiar with unhiding columns. To do this, simply select all the rows below row 10 and hide them, then select all the columns to the right of column E and hide them as well. This will present the students with a smaller, more manageable spreadsheet and prevent them from accessing any other cells.

However, if you are concerned about someone being able to unhide the hidden rows and columns, we have a second method using the scroll area property in VBA. This involves writing a simple one-line macro that will run every time the workbook is opened, preventing anyone from selecting cells outside of the designated range. This is a more secure solution and will ensure that the students cannot access any other cells, even if they know how to unhide them.

In addition to this problem, we also have some exciting updates to share with you. We recently taped some episodes for Leo Laporte's new show, "The Lab", which has replaced "Call for Help" in Vancouver. We will keep you updated on when these episodes will be available for viewing. We also have the winners of our 500th episode contest being announced slowly, so be sure to check out our website to see if you are one of the lucky winners.

Don't forget to also take a look at our monthly challenge, where we have some great discussions and solutions for tricky calculation problems. And as always, if you have a question for the podcast, feel free to leave us a voicemail or send us an email and we will feature it in a future episode. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel.

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Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction and location update
(00:24) Announcement about "Call for Help" show
(00:34) Invitation to check out the challenge of the month
(01:07) Question from Christina about limiting access to a certain section of a spreadsheet
(01:24) First method: hiding rows and columns outside of the designated section
(02:04) Second method: using the scroll area property in VBA
(03:07) Conclusion and invitation for questions


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Christina asks how to make sure that the students in her class stay within a tiny range of the spreadsheet. Episode 509 discusses two methods to solve this problem.

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